Christmas
by T3am.Nic0
Summary: Jason, Percy, Will, Annabeth, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Leo and Thalia plan a christmas celebration for Nico that he will never forget.
1. Four days to go

**THALIA**

"Please Artemis" Thalia begged, "just for one night." Ever since the iris message her brother had sent her 3 days ago, telling her of Jason's plans for christmas, Thalia had made it her mission to get Artemis to cooperate.

"No, Thalia" The goddess told her, "And there's nothing you can say to make me change my mind."

...

 **JASON**

Jason sat in cabin one, waiting for his sister to iris message him, it had been three days since he had told Thalia of his plans to give Nico a christmas. Since then, he had got Piper, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Leo, and Will in on the plan, all of them were willing to help him.

The mirror opposite him glowed. Jason grabbed a drachma from his pocket and tossed it into the rainbow that had been created. Thalia stood there on the other side.

"I'm gonna need help," she told him "Artemis isn't keen on having five boys riding her chariot."

It didn't take him long to realise who to send, if anyone could convince Artemis to give up her chariot to five boys, it was Piper.

...

 **PIPER**

When Jason came running towards her while she and Annabeth were training, she knew it was going to be about his plans for christmas. It was the twentieth of December, they had only four days left until Christmas eve and they still hadn't had the okay from Thalia.

"Hey Beauty Queen" he said once he got close enough to her for her to hear him.

"Why hello Sparky" she replied. Jason grinned at her, the lopsided kind he knew she liked. He got close enough and hugged her, whispering in her ear as he did.

"Thalia needs your help." She pulled away. What had happened to Thalia? Jasons sister was one of the scariest people she knew, not counting Annabeth, and why would the daughter of Zeus need her help?

"She's having trouble convincing Artemis to lend us the moon chariot."

...

 **THALIA**

"Come on, it's just one night," Thalia pleaded, "I will be there and I swear on the styx that I won't let any boys ruin your chariot." As she was saying this she peered over the goddesses shoulder, hoping to see Piper McLean, the saviour her brother had promised.

"No Thalia, how many times do I have to tell you, now get inside the tent, you know Pheobe's injured so she should be your priority." Artemis was right, a hunter had been harmed under her command, Thalia had a duty of care and after the bite Pheobe had got from that hellhound her lieutenant was her top priority. Thalia went inside and started dressing Pheobes wounds, about ten minutes into it she heard voices outside.

"Lady Artemis" definitely Piper, the voice had the unmistakable whispering lilt of charmspeak, "think about it, you've never enjoyed your burden of driving the moon chariot. You want to be on the ground every night, fighting the creatures of the dark side by side with your hunters. Let me give you one night, one night to spend with you loyal followers. What do you say?"

"Just one night?" Artemis asked.

"Just one night" Piper replied, still filling her voice with charmspeak


	2. Three days to go

**NICO**

The Hades cabin was definitely not the place to be at Christmas. The only decoration he had put up was the advent calendar on the door. As he sat eating the chocolate that came with number 21, he thought about what he would do on christmas, the more he thought about it, the less excited he got, . A few months ago, when he could focus on the good stuff like giving and recieving gifts, he would have been behaving like a child, but now, he thought about getting gifts from an immortal - and those always had strings attached.

...

 **LEO**

What to get? What to get? What to get?

Three days to go and Leo's unorganized self still hadn't thought of a gift for any of his friends. Percy and he were pretty much exact opposites - you don't usually mix water and fire - but he had to get his royal highness prince sassy something. Annabeth scared him, if he didn't get her anything, she would kill him and if he got her the wrong thing, she would kill him. Hazel was sweet and he wanted to give her something nice, but he didn't want Frank getting the wrong idea. Speaking of Frank, what could Leo get for the supper powerful guy who could turn into a dragon. And then there was his two closest friends, Jason and Piper, what in hades could he get for them? Neither of them appreciated his sense of total fabulousness. And then there was Nico, the guy who had never celebrated christmas before, Leo wanted to reach out and hug Nico for that, but he had a reputation to uphold.

None of his friends appreciated his shopping ability, but they did appreciate his craftsmanship. A lightbulb flicked on in his head and he ran headlong through the woods to bunker 9.

...

 **FRANK**

Frank hated Jason, the guy hadn't even listened to his complaints about turning into a flying red nosed reindeer. "I can only do animals I know and understand."

"Come on Frank, Its for Nico."

"I don't even like Nico."

"Please Frank." This time it was Piper, that girl had the audacity to use charmspeak on a praetor of Rome.

So here he was unable to refuse Pipers charmspeak, trying to turn into a flying red nosed reindeer. "This is impossible" he said to no one in particular.

"Only if you believe it is" came Hazel's voice from the doorway. "You say you can only do animals you know well and yet you managed to turn into a dragon, an animal you've never even seen before." Hazel was right, he didn't have to know the animal well, it just helped. He turned to the mirror again, closed his eyes and pictured a flying red nosed reindeer. When his eyes opened again, it wasn't Frank staring back at him.


	3. Two days to go

**PERCY**

Note to self: NEVER have a scary girlfriend at christmas. Buying christmas presents for his friends and family was one thing, he could live if they didn't like the embarrassing jumpers he brought for them, but if he got Annabeth the wrong thing, then he wouldn't live to hear another christmas carol. He was looking at a necklace in a jewellers that he wouldn't be able to afford, but it gave him an idea.

Violent winds caused waves to crash down on the sands, with it being the middle of december the beach was deserted, good, that ment he could use his water powers without too many questions. He calmed the waves so that they only lapped the sand in a rythmic pattern. Now that the waves were calm, his plan sounded a whole lot more sane. Without bothering to take his shirt off, he ran straight for the ocean, diving in to one of his favourite places.

...

 **WILL**

The skull shaped pendant will had just brought screamed Nico Di Angelo. It was all black on a long, dark, chain and had a heart for a nose, Nico is gonna love this he thought, as he ran all the way back to camp.

"VALDEZ" Will yelled as he bolted through the gate.

"Solace?" Leo answered from right behind him. Some demigod he was, letting someone sneak up on him without even realising it. "I was just heading for the bunker, how may I be of service?"

"I need you to make something for me."

"Well that my friend, is something I can do."

Will showed him the pendant, "can you make this into a locket?"

Leo took the pendant and looked it over, "I most certainly can," he said, giving the pendant back.

"Will you?" Will asked, re-phrasing his question.

...

 **PERCY**

Percy knew ocean was cold, but he didn't feel it. He also knew that he shouldn't be able to see a thing, and that he should be crushed by now, but neither of those things bothered him. The only thing bothering him now was a christmas present for Annabeth.

The shark he had been following for over an hour now was very talkative, percy hadn't been able to get a word in since he had asked about where he could find the most beautiful pearls the sea had to offer. Leroy, as Percy had come to know the shark by, was perhaps his No.1 fan, he had been talking about Percy asking him a question for half an hour now and still wasn't showing any signs of stopping.

"Here we are, those ones over there" Leroy told him, then swam away mutterung to himself.

Percy swam over to the clams Leroy had pointed out, using the current to guide him. He opened the first one, and inside it was a marble sized blue and green pearl, he poketed it and moved on to the next one, this one a deep ccoral red. He kept going, each pearl more beautiful than the last. He poketed the last and most beautful pearl, storm grey, just. like Annabeth's eyes.


	4. One day to go

**JASON**

Jason and Piper had just finnished decorating cabin one, remembering to leave behind some tinsel for the chariot/sleigh, and he was now making final preparations for tomorrow.

"Percy? Percy? PERCY?" The son of Poseidon finally snapped out of his trance and stopped fiddling with whatever was in his pockets.

"Yeah?"

"You know the plan for tomorrow right?" Call him a perfectionist, but Jason didn't want anything going wrong, and how wrong can it go with ten powerful demigods flying around in the middle of the night?

"Yes Grace, I know the plan. We are meeting Thalia at the bunker at 6 30 to decorate

the chariot which she is bringing. Will is bringing Nico to the there at 7 giving us thirty minutes. We are then gonna fly around for a bit, hopefully without getting killed then land back at the bunker ready for breakfast. Ta-da." Percy ended with his trademark jazz hands. "Hey, Jase?"

"Don't call me that, Grace, Superman and Sparky are bad enough but NEVER call me Jase, ok?"

"okay, sheesh, keep your hair on Blondie, can I call you that?"

Jason didn't even honour that with a reply, he just stared at Percy like _do you really think calling me_ Blondie _is a good idea?_

"So, not Blondie?" Percy guessed.

"No seaweed brain, not Blondie."

"Seaweed brain, really? couldn't you come up with something a tiny bit more original than that."

"What do you want Jackson?"

"Jackson? Its a little better, at least you didn't steal this one from Annabeth."

"What do you want?"

"To be excused Oh Great Roman One," Percy replied with a sarcastic bow in Jason's direction.

...

 **THALIA**

 _Okay_ , Thalia thought to herself, _you can do this_. But she couldn't do this. She sat behind the wheel of the moon chariot, ready to pick up her brother and their friends, but she couldn't get over her fear. She thought back to an experience a few years ago when she had been driving the sun chariot, _if you could do it then_ , she told herself, _you can do it now._ But that had been different, Apollo had been there just in case she did anything wrong, this time she was on her own. She thought back to a time before she had been a tree. Her mother driving along a dangerously fast road, well over the alcohol limit, her mind clouded up and one false move sent her on a one way trip to Hades. Thalia started hyperventilating. _Stop it_ she scolded herself, _you are ccompletely sober, that is not going to happen to you._


	5. Christmas Eve (part 1)

**PERCY**

One day to go. One day to go and he still hadn't found the right chain to use for Annabeth's necklace. Having almost given up, Percy turned to his last hope to get this done on time...Tyson.

His brother answered the iris message almost immediately, like he had known Percy would contact him. Tysons face lit up like a traffic light when his brother saw him.

"Hi brother."

"PERCY"

"Hey I know its a little late in the year for this, but I need your help."

"What you need brother?"

Percy showed him the pearls. "I need you to put these together as a necklace for Annabeth"

"Annabeth!" Tyson said, pointing to the pearls, he always got excited when Percy mentioned Annabeth.

"No, she can't know, this is between us."

"No, Annabeth!" Tyson pointed again, this time more urgently. Percy turned around.

"She can't know what?" Annabeth asked from the doorway. Percy quickly hid the pearls behind his back.

"Annabeth, hey. We were just talking about you." She walked towards him. Percy quickly slipped the pearls into his jean pocket, careful not to drop any. Annabeth hugged him, using the gesture to see what he was hiding Percy guessed. When she realised her efforts were fruitless, she pulled away again.

"She can't know what?" she repeated.

"Well if I told you, you would know what you can't know, wouldn't you? Therefore, I can't say."

...

 **ANNABETH**

Annabeth hated not knowing things, but she also hated fighting with Percy. She just had to trust that whatever he wasn't telling her, he had a good reason for it. Besides, she had been keeping secrets too. She and Piper had been working together to give Jason and Percy the best surprise christmas ever, except maybe the one Jason had planned for Nico. NICO. She had been so wrapped up in her gift to Percy, that she had forgotten to do anything for the son of Hades. Annabeth ran out of the Poseidon cabin, hoping she didnt hurt Percy's feelings, or let him think he'd hurt hers, but she had so much to do and not enough time to do it in.

...

 **THALIA**

Thalia hated heights. Absolutely hated them. But this was for her brother, Jason had done everything he could to give Nico his first proper christmas and she couldn't let him down, not now. It was a short ride from Mount Tam to camp half blood, stopping at camp Jupiter on the way to pick up Frank and Hazel, but her heart rate didnt slow down and her grip didnt loosen. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. She repeated the phrase over and over again, but it was like telling someone not to think of purple elephants, and her eyes constantly shifted to the ground, too far away for her liking.

Frank noticed her nervous glances. "Are we expecting an attack or something?" he asked. "I can scout ahead if you like."

Thalia ignored him, thanking the gods that Percy had told Jason, who had told Nico, who had told Hazel, who now admitted to Frank that she was afraid of heights. At least that meant she didnt have to tell him. Although, it did mean that most of her demigod friends knew that she, a daughter of Zeus and hunter of Artemis, was afraid of heights. She would be having words with Jackson when thay landed.

...

 **JASON**

Jason had his eye on the sky. Thalia, Frank and Hazel were already late and he had only allotted half an hour to decorate the chariot. He hated deadlines. The moon shone in the distance and seemed to get brighter as his sister got closer, another ten minutes and she would be here. That gave them twenty minutes before Will showed up with Nico to get the Moon Chariot ready.

As Jason watched, he began to notice things that shouldn't be there yet, like tinsel for example.

"Sorry we're late little bro" Thalia called out before the moon came to a complete stop. "We were a little behind schedule so I told Frank and Hazel to get started on the decorating." As if on que, Frank and Hazel stuck their heads over the side of the chariot and grinned at him.

"We're almost done" Hazel exclaimed, "just a few finnishing touches to go."

As she said this, Leo came from the bunker with a red and white outfit on and a big black sack slung over his right shoulder.

Jason sighed, not at the outfit or the sack, but at the grin on his friends face. "Leo, we've been over this, Will gets to be Santa Claus because he asked first. Now get the elf outfit on."

"Done" Hazel pronounced proudly and Jason turned away from Leo to the chariot.

"Whoah" he breathed, Hazel's finishing touches had been rubies and emeralds, positioned in such a way so that the reds and greens intertwined with each other to create a natural looking yet magical glow surround the chariot.

6 50. They had ten minutes until Nico arrived.

...

 **NICO**

Wills outfit was cute. Nico would never admit it, but he liked Wills quirky enthusiasm for everything he did. In fact, Nico couldn't think of anything he didn't like about the son of Apollo.

The two of them meandered through the woods without any thought on where they were going, Will seemed preoccupied, checking his watch and speeding up every few seconds.

"Something on your mind?" Nico asked, getting more and more suspicious about Wills behaviour. Will was usually relaxed, calm, collected, it was Nico who would usually be checking watches and speeding up.

"Huh?" Will replied. "Oh yeah. The uh... we should hurry."

That was it. Nico was now completely suspicious of Wills behaviour. Will NEVER stuttered, or hesitated, he always knew what Nico needed to hear, but not today.

Voices. Not clear enough to hear what was being said, but clear enough to hear who was talking. Jason. Hazel and Frank? weren't thay supposed to be at camp Jupiter? Percy. Annabeth. Piper. Thalia, great, Nico hated it when the hunters came to camp. They reminded him of Bianca, and why she was dead. And Leo.


End file.
